A former Department of Home Affairs immigration officer has been sentenced for abusing her position to approve a visa for her brother-in-law and unlawfully accessing restricted government data more than a thousand times.
Anne McCann, who worked at Home Affairs between 2016 and 2021, was convicted of abuse of public office and unauthorised access to restricted data. She accessed confidential files of 17 individuals—including friends and associates—on 1,164 occasions without authorisation.
The offences were uncovered as part of Operation Carbunup, a joint investigation by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity and the Home Affairs, later taken over by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in July 2023.
In one striking breach, McCann fast-tracked a visa for her brother-in-law whose visitor application had been refused in November 2019. Just 16 minutes after he reapplied on 6 December, McCann self-assigned the case to herself and approved the visa within three days.
Following a guilty plea, McCann was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, but was released immediately on the condition she enter into a $10,000 recognisance to be of good behaviour for 12 months.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) handled the prosecution. McCann’s case marks the ninth conviction linked to NACC investigations since it took over legacy matters in July 2023.
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